One of the most enraging injustices of this fucked up health insurance system we have here in the good ol' USA is that there are (plenty of) prescription drug plans that do not cover birth control pills or other forms of prescription contraception while *of course!* cheerfully paying for Viagra, Cialis, and other dick-hardening drugs. Now, I'm as fond of an erect penis as the next girl (shut up), but failure to get it up, or get it up as often or as reliably as one might wish, is hardly the public health crisis that unwanted pregnancy is. Add to this the fact that--from what I've heard--primary care physicians are all too happy to prescribe Cialis and the like as basically recreational drugs: mention in passing that things might not be as worry-free in that area as they once were, and the prescription pad is out before the words are hardly past the lips and, oh no, no need to investigate whether it's a physical or psychological problem or really in fact a problem at all by any objective standard. You menfolk apparently have some kind of constitutional right to the same erections at 50 that you had at 25, and the health insurance industry will back you up on that. Meanwhile, ain't no one taking microgestin or depoprovera recreationally, and off the top of my head, I'm just guessing that most young women have less disposable income than most middle-aged men to pay for noncovered prescription drugs.
Unless, of course, we consider that the use of hormonal birth control allows young women to have recreational sex unpunished and *that's* why microgestin is a recreational drug. Gasp! Now we're getting somewhere, huh? Because in this culture, sex for women is bad, while sex for men is not only good, it's a constitutional fucking right. (Um, pun intended, I guess.) Which begs the question about who you all are supposed to be having sex *with*, since this culture kinda frowns on y'all having sex with each other, too.
But, no. The Cialis commercials full of Perky Old People (tm) show me that you're supposed to be having sex with your adoring age-appropriate spouses who walk through fields of daisies with you, their tastefully-slightly-graying heads full of lustful thoughts, just waiting for that magic pill to kick in. Nevermind that from what I hear from the long (or even not-so-long) married women of my acquaintance, most of them would be just as happy if you'd just flush the prescription and leave them alone to watch True Blood or Real Housewives of Whatever in peace 29 out of 30 nights. It ain't till the divorce kicks in that so does the libido.
So, Andrea! What brings this up? Oh, there's all blah blah blah on the news tonight about how the president's healthcare plan may be derailed if they allow coverage for abortions. Um. I think that's a legitimate medical procedure. I think in fact that it is, in most cases, what one would technically consider minor surgery. I don't think insurance companies get to disallow coverage of minor surgery because they disagree with the morality behind it. But, oh, yeah, I guess they *do* get to disallow a lot of things for barely veiled societal, rather than medical, reasons.
To sum up: I hate everyone.
xoxo
3 comments:
As far back as the 17th or 18th century, before most *men* knew what an abortion was, there were some philosophers who knew it was a fucked-up idea to allow priests and politicians to either make medical decisions, or try to get inside the heads of the individuals wrestling with the medical decision. They were right, of course, and the sooner we all get that through our heads the better off we'll be.
Should we update our Diderot to read "we will never have health care until the last wingnut pol is strangled with the entrails of the last wingnut preacher?"
I turned down an Erection Set from my PCP for just the reason you suggest. And I've never been to a hotel with the his and hers outdoor bathtubs either.
Tsk. You're letting down the other Perky Old People by your refusal to toe the line. Get with the program. :-) :-)
Ya might say I'm refusing to take a hard line :-)
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